Student Research Spotlight

UH undergrads win national awards for their health sciences research in Africa

Michael Fernandez and Jovikka Antallan on stage with other conference award winners.

Two University of Hawaiʻi undergraduate students Jovikka Antallan and Michael Fernandez, who conducted health science research in Africa, received national awards for their presentations at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Arizona. Fewer than two dozen students, from among several hundred participants, were honored with Outstanding Presentation awards. Antallan examined whether testing by saliva for a parasite that causes malaria would be simpler and …

UH medical student earns national honors making research “come alive” through augmented reality

A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa medical student created a 3-dimensional image of a heart that literally jumped off the surface of her research poster, winning her a top award at the 2017 national meeting of the American College of Physicians in San Diego, California. Trudy Hong, a 2017 graduate of the John A. Burns School of Medicine and current pediatrics MD resident, was one of only five overall winners …

Research of Japanese poultry practices leads to distinguished scholarship

Three years ago, while doing guided research of Japanese language materials in Yokohama, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa graduate student Benjamin Schrager read about chicken broilers in Miyazaki. He was impressed by how they connected issues of agricultural industrialization, self-sufficiency and consumer anxiety. Between January and March of 2011, Miyazaki poultry farms were struck by 13 outbreaks of avian influenza that necessitated the rapid …

Jamaica Osorio awarded Ford Foundation Fellowship

Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio was honored with the 2017 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, which will support the final year of her dissertation writing and defense. Osorio, a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa PhD candidate in English, is 1 of only 38 individuals to receive the fellowship among the national competitors. Osorio’s dissertation is titled Aikāne, A Kanaka Maoli Moʻolelo Beyond Queer …

Microbiology undergraduates supported with UROP awards

Seven University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students in the Prisic lab are recipients of Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) awards. Jaymes Lonzanida, Jae Yun Lee, Brennen Yasuda, Sasha Canovali, Anna Scheiner, Janey Guo and Mattia Walter received support for their work with Sladjana Prisic, a Department of Microbiology assistant professor. “My research experience in Dr. Prisic’s lab was overall very rewarding,” …

Reef fish sustainability off West Hawaiʻi Island

Jennifer Wong-Ala, a 2017 spring graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Global Environmental Science (GES) degree program, conducted original research to determine how biological and physical factors affect the number of fish surviving to sustain populations of reef fish off West Hawaiʻi Island. Adult reef fish, like yellow tang, release eggs strategically—in places where the eggs can be …

Growing Hawaiʻi’s next generation of astronomers

Hawaiʻi’s leading academic institutions formalized an educational partnership designed to bring Hawaiʻi’s high schoolers into one of the world’s most advanced observatory communities. The Maunakea Scholars program helps aspiring astronomers envision their potential of pursuing a career in STEM-related fields. It is the first program of its kind internationally to allocate observing time at major observatories for the direct educational …

Education graduate receives Master’s Project Award

Sokunthearith “T” Makara, recent graduate of the College of Education (COE) Department of Learning Design and Technology (LTEC), is the 2017 Burniske Outstanding Master’s Project Award winner. The award is given annually to an LTEC master’s student whose graduate work best exemplifies what beloved Associate Professor Buddy Burniske valued in his students’ work: innovation, high quality research and writing, and …

Law school’s Patsy Mink Fellow to work in congressional office

Stacey Gray, who spent seven years as an environmental scientist and another two and a half as a marine fisheries biologist before entering law school, has been named the 2017 Patsy Mink Fellow by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law. Gray will spend the summer working in the office of Hawaiʻi Representative Colleen Hanabusa …

Mānoa Undergraduate Showcase highlights research and creative work

The Undergraduate Showcase of Research and Creative Work, which highlights the research and creative work of University of Hawaiʻ at Maānoa undergraduates across campus, was held on May 5. Sponsored by the Honors Program and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, the showcase featured more than 75 presentations and posters by 100 undergraduate students. Attendees commented on the potential, diversity and …